


There is No War In Ba Sing Se

by Skiewrites



Series: Bang Work [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Grishaverse - Fandom, Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Multi, grishaversebigbang
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 03:22:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22009186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skiewrites/pseuds/Skiewrites
Summary: There is no war in Ba Sing Se, or at least, that is what people are taught to believe. But, there are people, living deep into the slums of the outer circle of Ba Sing Se, that know better than that.Kaz has been given a mission from a Mister Jan Van Eck. 'Retrieve the Avatar from Omashu. For your efforts you will be paid beyond your wildest dreams.' But leaving the city is illegal, so he will need a team of the finest people he can find off of the streets of Ba Sing Se to help him achieve this goal.
Relationships: Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik
Series: Bang Work [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1174253
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Grishaverse Big Bang 2019





	There is No War In Ba Sing Se

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for the Grishaverse Big Bang, and you can find more fics on this collection and their tumblr page [here](https://grishaversebigbang.tumblr.com/). My team for this fic can all be found [here](https://grishaversebigbang.tumblr.com/post/188778767574/21-the-unnamed) and they are all so very awesome and I can’t thank them enough for all the help and content that they’ve created for this project. Please please please go check them all out! This could project could not have been done without them.  
> \- I also did another project here, if you want to check that out as well!  
> \- This fic will be taking place in the autumn of 97 AG (which is 97 years after the genocide of the airbenders). This means that this takes two years after Iroh breaks through the outer wall of Ba Sing Se, and is also the same year that Zuko is banished from the fire nation, but obviously the characters will not know this in this fic.  
> \- There are sequels planned! For those who are aware of how the timeline works, you know that the crows may be surprised with what they find in Omashu and on the way to and from the city, and there is much more to explore in this universe.  
> Please know that, in this fic, there will be no alta characters. Mainly because this fic takes place before canon starts, and if I did try and include them it would seem very unnatural, and i don’t like writing things like that. But that does not close that door for the future!!!  
> \- There's something special with the naming for the chapters. If you figure it out, please drop a comment below!!!  
> -Now... Enjoy!!!!

Wylan has planned this day to the last second.

His bags have been packed for the last week, every night he went through it just to make sure he had everything he thought he needed. He been talking longer and longer nightly strolls, coming home later and later so that his behaviour won't trigger anything suspicious, or at least, for long enough that he will be far gone out of the middle circle of Ba Sing Se, and therefore out of his father's reach, before he realised that his son was missing.

He had his route planned out for longer though. The way that he would jump a fence and double back on himself a couple of times before and after he got out of the middle circle so that anyone following him would not be able to follow him out of the city and try and take him back to the nightmare of his childhood home.

See, Wylan had planned to use the structure of Ba Sing Se to his advantage. It had been built centuries ago now, by powerful Earthbenders, who told the Earth to raise multiple walls to protect the city, now the biggest Earth Kingdom and potentially the whole world. The outer wall was the biggest and therefore the hardest to cross, getting both in and out, but there were other, much smaller walls inside the outer wall, protecting the richer and more important people in the city, the inner walls protecting the Earth King.

Of course, it was not the inner walls or the outer walls that Wylan cared for, but much rather the middle walls, the wall that kept the poor away from the rich, and it was this wall that was going to hide Wylan from the eyes of his father. Many of the criminals of the slums of the outerwall tried to get inside the middle wall each night, each story being wilder and wilder each time a child told another at school. Because of this, most of the focus of the soldiers on the wall was focus on no one getting in, meaning that Wylan getting out of the middle wall and joining the slums, where his father would not be able to see him, would be like taking candy from a baby.

That is, if his plan went the way that he planned.

When the bell rang ten, the shrills of the bell calling all across the merchants street of the middle circle, Wylan threw on his bag, something that was heavier than he thought but some of the items were things that he simply could not part with, and escaped out of the window, dropping down and landing in a crouch behind a bush before standing up, looking around before making his daring escape.

At the dead of night, there were not many people out of their houses, too filled with fear of the people like the Dai Li, the secret police that roamed the streets and looked for anyone causing any slight inconvenience and made them comply with their mind-bending skill, or at least, that was the rumours that the Earthbending kids would always tell him, before throwing rocks at him and causing him to run back to the so called 'safety' of his father's home. Wylan kept his head down as he walked past each person, not sure who was telling the truth and who was employed by the king to keep the peace.

It did not take long for him to get to the wall, the one that would be the key that locked the door between him and his father.

A peak around the corner showed two guards standing and looking away from him, showing him the street ahead of him, one that lead him away from his father.

He was almost there.

Picking up a stone, Wylan skidded it across the ground, making it go far out from the guards' posts, watching with a smile on his face as the pair looked at each other with a frown, before running after the stone, leaving the archway free for Wylan simply wander through.

He did run through it though. Just in case.

And he didn't stop. Why wouldn't he? He was free! Free from his father's expectations, his harsh words of criticism, his hatred glare knowing that he'll never be able to be the son and heir that his father desired out of him.

He was free to be anyone he wanted here in the slums. That was such a freeing thought that it could not leave his head as he ran, and ran and ran and ran, further and further into the slums, and eventually, into someone.

"Watch where you're going kid," the man growled, turning to face Wylan, then pushing the smaller boy to the floor, letting out a huff as his soft palms grazed the harsh ground below him.

"What is a merchant kid like you doing this far away from the middle circle?" A second man asked, gaining the attention of the third man as he crouched down to face Wylan with a smile that screamed at him to run. "What a full bag," His eyes moved from boy to bag to boy again, before flicking out a knife, harshly placing it underneath Wylan's chin, seemingly not noticing how it split his skin and caused blood to start trailing down his front, staining his white shirt. "What did you say your name was little man?"

"Nonya." Wylan replied after a second of thought, trying to ignore the pain that seemed so abnormal for him, having grown up away from pain and consequences.

"Nonya? What a funny name for a boy... Merchants are sure creative these days. What's your full name?"

"Non ya business!" Wylan yelled as he kicked the man in the face, quickly getting up off of the floor and picking up his bag as he went, and beginning to weave in between the poorly built houses as the men started to gain up on him, the advantage of living in the slums becoming clearer and clearer with each wide stride they took.

However, Wylan had the advantage of being smaller than the men.

He ducked into a small dark corner, holding his breath as he watched the angry men run past him, the reflection of their knife hitting his eye as they went.

The slums are dangerous. He knew this before he committed himself to the plan, with the idea that anyway would be better than his father's house. It still is, however, the knowledge that, if he hadn't run away when he had, he would be dead, bleeding more than the painful cut on his chin.

"Man, kid, you've really rifled them up," Wylan turned at the sudden voice, his eyes catching a figure in the dark. Stepping into the moonlight, he managed to get a better look at the speaker, a dark skinned teenager who couldn’t be too much older than himself, wearing the typical green clothes commonly seen by those who lived in Ba Sing Se. He was holding a slingshot in his hand, something that seemed weirdly out of place on the gangly teen. 

"I'm not a kid!”

"That’s something that twelve year olds say.”

"I'm not twelve, I'm sixteen!”

"You're pulling my leg, there's no way you're sixteen.”

"I am!”

"Prove it."

The man, who remained nameless, took a step closer to Wylan, only to notice his chin still dripping with blood. The cut was not life-threatening by any means, but it was still deeper than most nicks that Wylan had experience in his life thus far.

"Lets get that looked at." The man began to drag Wylan by his hand through the maze.

"Why are you helping me?

"Because there's something about you kid."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Don't forget to check out my other work for the Grishaverse Big Bang here and to check me out on tumblr here as well as everyone else who work on this fic here. 
> 
> Don't forget to give kudos and comments! They really do help with my moral for this work!!!


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